Sweet Dreams are Made of These
by finnsantana
Summary: swan thief prompt: Emma, Neal, and their children spending a day on the beach. / oneshot


The sun shone brightly, it reflected off the water causing an almost blinding light, but it wasn't a bother to Emma. She slid her sunglasses over her face and relaxed on top of her towel. She edged her feet off the towel and let them rest on top of the hot sand; she loved the way it felt beneath her bare feet and squished between her toes. She let out a soft content sigh and just enjoyed the heat of the sun and the subtle wet breeze against her skin. It was just how she imagined it would be; no it was better, way better.

"You going to be a lazy bum the entire time we're here?" Neal ran up beside her, two small children, a boy and a girl ages three and five, followed behind him, they looked like little ducklings as they did so.

"Of course not." Emma smiled and looked up at him. She pushed herself up off the ground; the small girl walked up to her and held out her arms to be picked up. "Aw c'mere Samantha." She reached down and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Better?" The girl nodded, her little blond pigtails bobbing up and down. "Mhmm."

"Are we going to go?" It was the boy who spoke this time; he looked up at Emma and Neal with large puppy dog eyes. "I want to play in the water." He continued to pout.

"Andrew Cassidy do not pout at me." Emma gave him a stern look, but she couldn't keep it up; especially when Neal picked up Andy and gave her an equally pouty expression. "Jeez." She shook her head at the two. "Let's go."

She held onto Samantha and walked out into the water with Neal and Andrew. Samantha seemed perfectly content staying in Emma's arms and avoiding the water, but the two boys on the other hand were splashing and flailing about in the water. Emma sat down on the shore line, she was close enough that the water could get her toes and most of her lower half when the waves splashed, but Samantha was safe in her arms and wouldn't get wet. "You sure you don't wanna play with Daddy and Andrew?"

Sam nodded and put her thumb in her mouth, she sucked it gently for a moment before removing it and giving her mother a horrified expression. Her eyes filled with tears and she started to cry quietly. "Did you get sand in your mouth honey?" She stood up as she spoke and took her daughter back to their spot, she handed her a sippy cup full of water. "Is that better?" She set her down on the towel and watched her drink the water for a moment. Samantha seemed to calm down and relax which Emma was thankful for. She relaxed herself and flicked her eyes out to the water where her boys were still messing around. She smirked when she heard Neal calling to her, "I thought you said you weren't going to be a lazy bum!"

"I'm not; Samantha and I are….sunbathing and getting our Vitamin D." She gave a laugh.

"Sure sure, you two look like princesses up there."

Emma rolled her eyes and looked down to Samantha, "Do you think we look like princesses?" She raised her brows. Sam kept her sippy cup in her mouth and merely shook her head from side to side. "That's what I thought." She smirked and looked back to Neal only to see him and Andrew coming back towards them, they were both sopping wet and had patches of sand stuck to them.

Andrew picked up his towel and wiped his face, he looked to Emma and then up at Neal. "If you're not princesses why does daddy call you his royal pains in the—" before Andrew could finish Neal had his hand on his mouth quieting him. "Kids say the darnedest things huh?" He gave a nervous laugh. He pulled his hand away and patted his son on the back gently.

Emma glared a little and shook her head, "Yeah sure." She still couldn't stop the smile on her face from breaking through. All the teasing was in fun anyway. There was no reason for her to be happy; she had everything she wanted a family of her own, two beautiful children and a husband that she loved more than anything. It was absolutely perfect.

A loud crashing noise pulled her from her thoughts. She blinked a couple of times confused by what it could have been, the beach, Neal, Samantha, Andrew, everything around her faded into gray. "What the hell?" she mumbled.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." She heard a familiar voice speak to her.

Emma let out a heavy sigh and pushed herself up slowly, everything was coming back to her now, she was lying in a jail cell, no husband, not kids, well…she glanced down at her partially protruding belly, the no kids part wasn't really true. She swallowed thickly and looked to the warden who had spoken to her only a moment ago, "You got an appointment with the doctor today. No funny business."

Emma nodded and looked away from the woman, she could feel her eyes fill with tears, she had been there for about a month or so now, but she still wasn't used to it. This wasn't where she was supposed to be, she and Neal were supposed to be on a beach in Tallahassee, but he had screwed her over. She sniffled a little, it was only in her dreams that things seemed to work out. That thought alone was enough to make her want to close her eyes and dream forever.


End file.
